Training in Dental Public Health and Oral Health Informatics

The Dental Public Health & Informatics Fellowship Program at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is offering opportunities for dentists to pursue training in Dental Public Health and in Oral Health Informatics using full-time and part-time training formats. The NIDCR presents an unique place for the study of dental public health. As part of the NIH, an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service and the largest biomedical research agency in the world, the NIDCR aims to improve dental, oral, and craniofacial health through research, research training, and the dissemination of health information. Dentist-trainees in the Dental Public Health & Informatics Fellowship Program at the NIDCR will have the opportunity to be engaged in population-based research and be exposed to various public health related activities in the Nation’s capital region.

Mission and Goals

The mission of the NlDCR Dental Public Health & Informatics Fellowship Program is to offer exceptional training that is more focused on Dental Public Health research to prepare our dentist-trainees to become leaders in research and/or program administration in academia and/or government.

The Program’s overall goal is to educate our dentist-trainees to become critical thinkers, life-long learners, and competent specialists. The primary objectives of the Program are:

to provide opportunities for Fellows to gain broad experience and capabilities across designated 10 competency areas in dental public health,

to develop particular competence in the methods of scientific inquiry and research to solve dental public health problems or ascertain useful information regarding oral and craniofacial health and its relation to overall health,

to expand Fellows’ skills in Data Science (Big Data) with an emphasis on public health Informatics,

to provide postdoctoral trainees with adequate preparation for examination and certification by the American Board of Dental Public Health, and

to prepare public health dentists whose plans are to become specialists and leaders in academia and government with the desire to improve oral health of populations in the US and/or globally.

The Dental Public Health Fellowship Program provides a formal training opportunity for dentists planning careers in dental public health, with an emphasis on oral and craniofacial, health-related epidemiologic research. The Fellowship Program is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Program graduates receive a certificate of completion and are qualified educationally to apply for examination by the American Board of Dental Public Health for specialty certification. Individuals have the opportunity to select either a full-time (12-month) or a part-time (24-month) training for the Fellowship Program in Dental Public Health. Full-time fellows will be required to attend all program courses, seminars, and other learning activities while enrolled in the program at the NIH main campus in Bethesda, MD. The non-residential part-time fellowship is a combination of some in-person learning along with some distance-learning. Part-time fellows will be required to attend 7 core weeks on the NIH campus in Bethesda over the 24 month training period. In addition to this fellowship requirement, the remaining seminars, presentations, and other learning activities can be completed through teleconferences, webinars, and other online activities. The part-time training program is designed for individuals interested in pursuing knowledge in dental public health and quantitative research while continuing their professional employment.

The training program in Oral Health Informatics (OHI) is a combined program focusing on dental public health and informatics, and is co-sponsored by the NIDCR and the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This a 2-year full-time post-doctoral fellowship opportunity for dentists interested applying informatics science as it relates to research, education, and clinical care in the broad area of public health dentistry. Fellows completing NIDCR’s Dental Public Health Fellowship Program’s requirements over the 2-year OHI Fellowship will earn a Certificate in Dental Public Health issued by NIDCR acknowledging that graduates are educationally eligible to challenge the specialty certifying exam in Dental Public Health. In addition, fellows successfully completing the OHI Fellowship will earn a Certificate in Dental Informatics. This is a full-time fellowship program at the NIH main campus in Bethesda, MD.